Square Enix has been making news again – this time for posting a loss of 5.7 billion yen in its most recent financial statement, having posted a profit of 5 billion yen for the same period last year – the loss now being blamed on intense competition in the Japanese video game market and the fact that for some inexplicable reason foreigners refuse to buy its fine titles.

Despite the discouraging loss, April-December sales were up 7% to 102 billion yen, in no small part thanks to moderate sales from the likes of Hong Kong-based GTA clone Sleeping Dogs (1.5 million) and newly streamlined Hitman: Absolution.

However, their sales were not enough to cover development and marketing expenses, resulting in an operating loss of 4.8 billion yen, down from a profit of 11.2 billion on the same period a year earlier.

Commenting on the 42% drop in profits, CFO Yousuke Matsuda says “the hurdle to achieving our projections is very high.”

Despite all this, the company’s share price actually rose quite handily – though admittedly from its lowest point ever:

Japanese gamers are as supportive of ever of this national champion:

“Keep trying with those social games! w”

“What happened to all the social games they were supposed to be so great at?”

“Glad I didn’t buy Sleeping Dogs after all.”

“Don’t worry, there is always FF14!”

“I like the manga they publish so I hope they don’t go bankrupt.”

“Blame it on Sony for messing up on the hardware side.”

“They still have an ace up their sleeve in the form of a FF7 remake.”

“Square Enix is the very picture of hell now – remake, social, remake, social…”

“What do they expect after treating their creators as disposable contract employees?”

“Looks like all they have left is tricking children into buying items in their social games.”

“This is why everyone is telling them to remake FF7.”

“FF7 has too many towns to be remade!”

“When are they going to remake this damn game already…”

“The popularity of both FF and DQ is waning… it really seems this company is in denial over that.”

“When their backs are against the wall, they’ll still be able to remake Romancing SaGa 2!”

“Remakes are a total waste of time and money.”

“Have they even made a post-2000 hit? They just rely on their old titles, and don’t even seem interested in trying to make new games.”

“They dumped their core creators, I can’t understand that. You can’t expect to outsource your core team like that.”

“What do you expect, Wada is just some financier who doesn’t understand a company’s knowledge comes from its people, not the company itself. Now they just drive out their veterans as being too old. Management ruined their social venture, and their publishing arm has no future now FMA has finished. All they have left now is DQ – expect them to remake it into the ground.”

“They constantly fawned over the overseas market whilst neglecting their Japanese core market – and this is the result!”

“Bamco makes for quite a contrast. Square are just industry losers now.”

“Bamco is still actually making games, after all. They do make social games, but they are still making proper games as well. Same with Capcom.”

“Expect them to end up being taken over by Bandai at some point.”

“Square Enix Bandai Namco…”

“Would the Japanese game industry have died already without social gaming to keep it afloat?”

“More like, they would have never fallen this far without social gaming.”

“I cannot comprehend why this company, with all the dreadful content and gameplay mistakes it rolled into FF13, is insisting on sticking to it all the way to a third game now.”

“Simple, they invested so much into it they have to keep trying to reuse it all so they can recover their investment.”

“I hope they crash and burn along with Gree!”

“If they can just keep this up for a few years they may finally be able to get rid of Wada…”

If you want to sell games in the west, you have to SELL GAMES IN THE WEST.

We’re still waiting on Type-0 (which will never happen) and Bravely Default (which will probably never happen).

Yet, we’re guaranfuckingteed to get yet another FFXIII sequel over here.

I’m seriously done with you. So many other companies are putting out worthwhile games that don’t serve only to deepen my disappointment. Thanks for the memories, but that’s all you’re good for anymore.

Here’s a hint square, instead of showing us games we want, and then pushing them to the back for games like fucking FINAL FANTASY XIII LIGHTING ARC, give us the one’s we want like FF VERSUS XIII and KINGDOM HEARTS FUCKING III!!!

Simple. Remake E.V.O., spread rumors that it’s a game that teaches the theory of evolution, controversy raises, game gets tons of attention, sales skyrocket, SE is back in black, a worldwide release of Seiken Densetsu 3 is now possible (yes, that is my ulterior motive) and all because the public is ignorant like that.

Some people need to actually play some of these games to know what they’re talking about.

I’m not a fan of FF at all, and i’ve only played FF8 and ff13. And before any one slates me as a closet fan, I can tell my opinion on both games is not a good one.

I’m not gonna talk about 8 cuz it’s been done, cut to the chase with ff13.

ff13 is definitely not “COD”-esque in anyway. Just because the game run’s in a 3rd person 3d view doesn’t make it feel anymore like a FPS game.

Hell if it were more COD esque, it might have even been better.

next part is just bitching, you can skip the paragraph:

Remember the linearity of the map? and the fact that your stuck walking 1 single route with a ton of scenery around that you can’t touch?
how bout auto jump over broken paths?
A weapon switching system that really is just a fancy rock-paper-scissors game?
Reading a ton to figure out character relationships but end up realizing the acting choices are so cheesy that it doesn’t live up to standard?
The script was Cheese all over to begin with?
A freaking annoying kid as the main character of the story that has so little character development he didn’t change any of the bad parts in his personality. Even if he said he did, it wasn’t even convincing with the acting.

the list goes on and on and ultimately boils down to 2 things:

lack of interactivity or too much “possible” teasing interactivity that doesn’t even allow you to touch.

bad writing that is stuck in a very strict format of “touching moments involving friendship and sacrifice”
regardless of character and plot development.

the 1st point kills ANY GAME. you can’t just have a ton of things that LOOKS LIKE you can touch or play with and then given the “invisible wall” treatment.
same goes for complex seeming systems that tries to promote deeper strategy, but ultimately not living to standard due to the strict confining of the mechanics.

bad writing kills mainly jrpgs, because traditiona jrpgs are filled with level grinding, which is not a popular concept these days.
the only reward to that back then and now is new information of story along with attractive loot. Loot would go back to game mechanics, and the new bits of story would mean the story itself has be well written with exciting turn of events and intriguing characters.

it doesn’t have to be mind blowing concepts, but at least not redundant ideas with the SAME way of telling it.

So yeah, with SE blamming it on “foreigners not willing to buy their games”(which was never the major market for JRPGS to begin with) they just won’t get it.

and please, stop asking for remakes. Sth that was gd back then doesn’t automatically become just as great when remade.
if u’ve never played ff6 or lived through that era before, remaking it with similar/improved mechanics and new HD graphics won’t top the old one in sales or popularity anyway.

It’s a nice thought, but only for the hardcore fans.
Nostalgia doesn’t feed a company.

Well, even if Square fails to deliver these days (though personally I liked FF XIII, though I’m not too happy with the sequal), at least Monolith Soft was nice enough to give us Xenoblade Chronicles, which all of you people mentioning Xenogears should go play right now if you haven’t already (even if it’s a seperate unrelated entry, just sharing a name-resemblance), as it’s an amazing game. If you haven’t got a Wii, buy a cheap used one, or borrow one, or whatever, and play the game. Totally worth it.

You know what I miss? That I care. I miss the part where I actually care what happens to the character. So much to the point I might break down into tears if that character dies. Sound familiar? FFVII anyone? Please Square, make me care about your games again, and you can start by listening to your customers.

Eh. I honestly cared more about Sazh than I did about anyone in the FF7 cast other than Aeris. FF7’s cast wasn’t that great, and FF13’s wasn’t that bad.

What I do miss is caring whether I care. The Final Fantasy series name has long since stopped meaning anything other than “high budget game with pretty graphics” – that is literally the ONLY THING IT MEANS and that kind of makes me sad. I’ve spent eight years running a text-based MMORPG based on FF5/FF6/FF7/FFT/Chrono Trigger/Secret of Mana. I own all of the soundtracks and strategy guides, and many of the art books, ultimanias and even some sheet music for FF4 through FF10. I should really still care at least a little bit about the company. But I… don’t. Just like the series, the only thing the company has retained from 15 years ago is its name.

I constantly find myself dumbfounded by the way some Japanese companies can take the very reasons we watch show or play games and remove just that element of their former masterpieces. The more communist implementation of these current business management strategies clearly hasn’t been working very well. How far into the red must they plummet before they catch a freaking clue? Quit acting like douches square enix and go back to the days of square soft.

They have a long, long history of constantly finding new and exciting ways to disappoint fans’ expectations. Every Final Fantasy game ever made was, at the time, “a radical and total departure from the series which shouldn’t really be called Final Fantasy” except for FF9 and FF14.

As much as I love FFVII, The current style of Final Fantasy games suck and it would show. For VII to really shine it would need to be done in a vector/anime style. This can produce a very nice drawn anime look while keeping the graphics absolutely stunning.

Backgrounds and towns would have to be of the utmost quality and I would also want a 1st person view to be able to look into all the buildings and towns. This is what I loved about VII, The detail they placed in every building. Cigarette ashes still burning, worn floor boards etc.

Midgar would have to be dark and dirty. Ethereal and absolutely breathtaking. The soundtrack should be fully orchestrated and the VA’s should be some of the best who do feature animes.

What is really comes down to is a playable anime. Get PA Works, Silverlink and Shaft involved in the renditions and it will be the billion dollar game to promote the new PS4!!

The reason they are in the red is because their LINEUP SUCKS ASS! They butchered Front Mission and a real good PC game in Dungeon Siege III. They failed miserably in FFXIV so much that they fired the old crew and reworked the game. FFXIII was suppose to be their ace in the hole but at best it was an AVERAGE RPG in a HISTORY of MEMORABLE ones. SE has been making BAD decisions for over the past 4 years, its no wonder they are in working with losses. The only things that seem to be generating income are REMAKES and if they are relying on those games, theres only so many of them before they start making remakes of remakes….

Square Enix is nothing more then a joke they can’t even make a new game, there only capable of makeing expansions and will soon go bankrupt for the simple reason of relying on a single game. FUCK FF THAT GAME SUCKS

Look at Tales of series for fuck’s sake. They didn’t change it much cuz’ the formula work and games want it. Square Enix idiots think that putting western stuff into JRPG and bump it up with graphics and effect, while leaving atmosphere and character development, will make the game sell, thinking that we want that. And even worse they want to capture the new fans while loosing the old ones. If they didn’t get that, then they deserve to fall.

Mh, i cant complain. I played Deus Ex Human Revolution 3 times and i am also on my third playthrough of Sleeping Dogs. Imo it is much more fun than the latest GTA titles. I really hope something good will come for t he Final Fantasy Franchise.

All they need to do is release an 18-rated Final Fantasy XXX and it can appeal to the throng of otaku who love dating sims and skimpy outfits. Or, you know, remake Final Fantasy VII with modern graphics. That too.

First one still clobbers X-2
(On that note: X-2 might’ve been more interesting with a more well-thought-out story instead of a “Charlie’s Angel” reference. ((Then again, they really should’ve given fans the more kinkier elements of Feel-em up, dress-em down… Swimsuit style moments…)) – Fail.)

XI – This is a precursor to FFXIV’s failure. Nuf-said.

XII – A quick bring back to interests. However, new game-play style leads to “I would rather be playing a REAL MMO. (Music Soundtrack – Great for a theatrical film… not exactly Final Fantasy Enough…)

Fantasy Earth Zero – Great game… Poorly marketed, poorly managed… and they’re only just NOW figuring out how to run it… Too bad it’s already too late to save. (Also being 2006-2013) The game seriously needs a Final Fantasy Expert’s HD Update. — OR at the very least—- Freakin’ make a batter KVK!!!

Buying out Enix?— Enix was better when it was still Enix. (Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean…)
Star Ocean 3 Still one of my go tos when I’m really looking to waste 200 hours or so…

Kingdom Hearts I and II… good call on that… Very deep game that seriously deserves a righteous III or at the very least a Theatrical Release–done the right way of course… Chokes on own words

Let’s see…

FF13- We lost the real meaning of “RPG” Should’ve taken on out of SO3’s game play. The more to do, the better the game.

SO4- This is exactly the reason Enix should still be Enix.– Square totally made this franchise crash-suicide. Was that their goal?

FF14- Another really expensive MMORPG that people can’t afford, but also can’t find reason to play besides.

Can’t think of anything you can do, SquareEnix… I think surrendering is an option… or you could go back to doing games like you used to…

How about a remake of FFVII, FFVIII, and FFIX… HD.
And maybe, though the US fan-dom was smaller, how about an “Advent Children” FFVIII? and then some random games continuing that universe…

Better yet. Freakin’ finish KH3! There’s a thought.

Resurrect Star Ocean?– pehaps let the ENIX people handle it this time?…

(-.-) Since I still Play Fantasy Earth (though I’m not telling how, since it no longer exists in my country.) I’m going to end this ranting for hopes that this game might stick around a little longer. I do like talking to people who play that game.

CEO plays it safe and does nothing but continue to “Guide the course” and expertly purges worthy of Stalin or Pol Pot any of the creative, brilliant people who helped bring it to the top. Don’t want to pay them a good wage for all their contribution…

Then, “Stay the course!” and just like a cow who chews up it’s own shit, vomit, cud and keeps chewing and barfing eventually the big pile of hay becomes shit…. They do this because in corrupted republics they can make money on the way down and then get a bailout, then a new team comes in and with a big balloon of government money makes some more CEOs rich chewing and vomiting till it’s gone.

1. Littlewitch Romanesque Adventure. Team up with Oyari Ashito, pay him good $, then make a “Vanillaware” interactive world based on his works. In short, instead of ramming polygons make “Hypersprites” that takes 2.5 D to the level it should go. Plenty of echhi fun, I predict it’d actually get trolled by women out to snub dirty men, play as innocent girls themselves, and mmmaybe “Online date” a salvagable man.

2. Punky Knight World… Skyrim level MMORPG world where lonely pervy men can play Youhei Kozou’s level of full bodied slut. So though race, class, species is optional it’s based around “Whore Knights” who can fight but also can attract male NPC characters. Phaia is the neutral base that fights OK and can get 1 – 3 at higher level male followers, lots of hentai scenes. There’s the “Whore Mercenary” who wears a kimono and carries a poison spike pipe and razor spine fan but always attracts 5-10 warrior males who move with her. There’s the Amazon who’s a super warrior but no male companions. There’s the “Demon Priestess” who uses sex energy from voluntary tentacle intercourse and has magic powers. There’s the “Dancer” who’s a stripper better suited for towns, but can piggy-back on warriors and fight a bit herself. Finally, as a mandatory “Loli” rep there’s the “Galaxist/Blade” Nekomimi girl who’s tiny and petite and is good at super-powerful burst attacks but then gets exhausted and helpless a few rounds later, so she attracts a warrior who gains levels faster to defend her and loli sexes her -BUT- he gets problems because the adult (full bodied) women in the game hate him as a pedo, even though the catgirl calls the shots;-)

This will also be popular with women trolling it. Moreso than #1 actually. Plenty of slightly older, heavier Japanese women need love. So they’ll troll as the “Barmaid”, the “Shopkeeper”, etc. and the “Whore knights” will be surprised at how well the AI is.

Just look at Etrian Odyssey (JP: Sekaiju no Meikyuu). That’s a goddamn classic RPG and it’s awesome. It has the bare minimum of a plot, that actually works and gets under your skin. No stupid cutscenes and lots of action. It’s the essence of what every RPG should strive to be. And it proved itself popular with EOIV released in NA somewhere this month.

Oh,.. and FUCK nintendo for their regiolockingbullshit and FUCK amazon for preventing me from buying it anyway.

Release Versus, remake some old games and stop trying to appeal western audiences (as SE said they were trying to do). They liked your games before so do them natural – you need to go back to the roots.

Here’s a solution for the general problem Japanese games are facing: Start selling their titles on the PC as well.
On Steam speficially

Do more overseaas releases but less expensive.

No need to go with an expensive full redesign with a Dub for most of their games, just translate the dialogue and the interface.

They already made the game, just translate it and put it on steam and it will keep selling well over time for long while.

It’d be specially good for the guys doing niche stuff like NIS to reach more people and for the guys already doing games with big budgets like square then just investing a bit more on the port would surely pay well.

This. While digital distribution has its flip sides, it’s still incredibly dumb for them to not take advantage of it. Really, are there specific reasons why it’s not as widespread in Japan as it is in the West, beside the PC not being the main platform with the exception of hentai and doujin games? Are the higher-ups of game companies conservative to this point? Or do Japanese gamers have some physical copy fetish that makes them refuse digital copies no matter what?

square-enix’s biggest project, final fantasy series (13 mainly), has an overly complex battle system that requires you to master it or grind to get better. all these silly barriers and combo-chains you gotta get to break through… the biggest problem with it, is that it feels like a chore and it’s not intuitive. then the leveling system is unbalanced. after a certain point it feels like you have to grind forever to unlock the weakest little bonuses. then i found myself reaching that point where i have to ask myself why i’m playing the game if it feels like work. the sequel was just as bad. i played the demo and thought, i would play it if the battle system wasn’t so tedious.

final fantasy 12 was the exact opposite. i couldn’t get enough. i leveled to 99 on all my characters and loved the gambit system. the only problem was, it felt like it was cut short. the only time i progressed the story was for the hope that the item shops would upgrade what they are selling. i did all the side quests and even beat yiazamat. when i got to the final boss, there was no climax. i thought that was the typical first encounter, where the soon to be boss roughs you up then you go on a 30 hour trek to put him in his place. but suddenly credits start to roll and i don’t even know why i was fighting him.

sorry didn’t mean to ramble, but square is all out of balance. i want vs13, buy they will probably botch it.

Square’s mistakes:
1. Making FF Spirits Within
2. Making a FF MMO into a numbered FF title instead of being contented with the title FF Online.
3. Failing to retain their core team such as Sakaguchi and Uematsu.
4. FFXII because it feels incomplete.
5. FFXIII because they want CoD-esque RPG
6. FFXIV because they outsourced it to China.

I have to agree. Playing RE Darkside Chronicles was the best example that things can change in a bad way. Everyone hoped for it as RE2 remake (the one chapter) but even it was a shooter it was dissappointing. Story, bosses. WAY too much action. It was a complete different game. if THATS what awaiting us with Final Fantasy VII (modern,COOL improvements for generation CoD >>) I would not buy the FFVII remake. That’s sure.

How many times do they have to be in the red before they start making good games again? They are wasting one of the best and most famous brand names in the industry by making crappy remakes and crappier spinoffs, over and over and over, just because they are cheaper to make. I don’t even bother with their games any more.

Maybe if their games didn’t suck people would buy them. Square focuses way to much on making the game pretty and not enough where they should be, which is gameplay, their older titles like snes era were great, some of their ps1 titles were good too, but most of their ps2 and above titles just sort of.. failed.

Riight…seriously, even Romancing Saga 2&3 for snes have gazillion more content than that shitty FF 13 (and actual towns lol). Why they didn’t even bother to remade them in 3d like minstrel’s song? It’s not like they can screw this any further.

-Publish fan remakes of their 16-bit titles (Like what Capcom did for SFxMegaman)
-Give the FF license to someone else to experiment with (Level-5 for example)
-Try to put DQ in the shell of FFXIII. As in a very active, engaging battle system, stunning locals that DON’T take 15 hours to get to, and a wonderful fantasy adventure set in a time where FF ruled. Ala IV, VI and IX.
-Cross-over! Stick the cast of FF along side Fire Emblem or something. Or even let Arc System Works have a crack at making a Persona 4: Arena style fighting game with the FF cast.

I know this’ll largely fall on deaf ears, but it’s what I’d like to see happen. I honestly don’t want Square Enix to go away.

You’re suggesting that they make DQ into an absolutely fucking mind-numbing pile of horse shit like FF13? Please tell me I’m reading that wrong.

But if you’re really saying what I think you’re saying… hey, they already have the perfect Dragon Quest game series for you! You know, the ones that come in those toy swords, and which are on-rails affairs, with you just kinda hitting some monsters. Kinda like a pretend RPG minigame? That’s what FFXIII was after all.

Get to the roots and you will get the consolidated fabbase that has always loved rpgs.

Those moaning about supposed “stalled” status of rpgs are those that have never liked rpgs to begin with, appealing to this minority is evidently not working and on the contrary alienating the core western jrpg fan-base that is now disappointment with the fucking westernization.

Gowro over it Japanese rpg makers Mass effect/Bioware Foalout/Bathesda fanbase DOES NOT and never has liked japnese rpgs, so you wot reach to that crowd.

Something like FF7-9 (with 9 keeping it’s style but getting HD graphics and effects and maybe some new content)is a bit more costly to remake in HD. That’s why they don’t do it.
But FOR THAT is a huge demand. Barely anyone was nostalgic overthe first games.

These remakes are just stalling tactics meant to buy time until the next console generation hits.(I don’t count the Wii-U)
The real test of whether or not they fail completely will be the success of their first major titles on the PS4 and Xbox 720.

Non Square-Enix developed games are good and/or great games, like Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider. However, the FF side is doing poorly.

This may not be ideal for their company, but I’m interested in seeing what Square-Enix can pull off when they are near bankruptcy again: can they pull off another “Final Fantasy” and save their company yet again?

The second disc isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It does take a backseat on… well… playing the game to give you a large exposition. It let you see further inside some of the characters you’ve spent a lot of time with.

I wouldn’t ask for a remake of Xenogears. It is not perfect the way it is now, but I think a remake might hurt the game more than help it.

As Anon 23:11 said, “Yes, it is bad.” It’s very bad. I know, I just tried to replay the game just last year.

I loved Xenogears, but that last disk was atrocious. They talk about “many desperate and difficult battles”, but you never experience them. They tell you about them.

The battles against the Elements are mentioned, but you only get one more fight against them. Thy tell you about how they only wanted to be reunited with Ramsus, but you never really experience those scenes.

They talk about how Elly changes, but it’s not something the play gets to witness; it’s just dropped into your lap during a long monologue by Fei and Elly.

What game-play exists is simply a series of Anima dungeons, one after the other. No over-world exploration or travel at all. Hell, you don’t even get access to the rest of the world until after Shevat falls; which signals the final phase of the game.

As for character development… There wasn’t any. At least not “on-camera”. Xenogears commits the cardinal story-telling sin of “telling rather than showing”. You get access to some bonus areas, but unless you have a guide, you won’t even know about them because the game doesn’t reveal they are there.

The game’s second disk was never finished (due to budget problems from I understand). What was released was more of a summery of what was planned, and that’s a damn shame.

To the idiot who didn’t make it past 7 hrs …dude 7hrs in all you’re doing is walking forwards and pressing A, do you possess a sound adult mind?

PS. ff13 was horrific gutter-trash that I wasted 50hrs of my summer-holidays on 2 years ago – I will forever hold this 50 hr grudge against square and will urinate on the cover of every subsequent ff13 title – I mean fuck..we know you want to reuse your character models but seriously..FUCK YOU

Yeah the success of Ni No Kuni and it’s very positive reception should be a wake-up call for all JPRG developers. EVERYONE just wants wells crafted, classic style JRPGs. Nobody wants these semi-realistic, real-time battle systems with QTE bullshit in their JRPGs.

And we don’t need these super detailed, CoD styled corridor maps that you force everyone to take because 90% of your budget went into modeling the world so there’s no fucking way you are going to let any player possibly skip part of it.

You know, they may be able to spring back if they looked at small RPG niche companies like NIS and took some notes: Lots of cheapish reusable sprites rather than immaculately crafted 3D models. Lots of game mechanics and good writing. They could probably slash development costs so much with that, they could even include a range of different endings. They wouldn’t have to turn it into a funny over the top fanservice fest like NIS loves, but if they could stop being so obsessed with perfect hyperdetailed scenes, they could actually make a world with some depth to it.

@SpideyPHL: The thing is, while they’re at very different scales, they both find themselves surprised by their results:

NIS: “Why is Neptunia doing so well? Ok – I guess we’ll make some more then!”

S-E: “Oh my god… Why isn’t Final Fantasy selling? What can we do to stay afloat???”

Whether you’re making a game to sell 10 units or 10,000,000, you want to hit, or even exceed your target. When that starts failing, going further in the direction that got you there is not a good idea, especially in an industry where a lot of big studios are completely destroyed by one flop.

Tactics used by smaller companies don’t include strong multimillion dollar ad campaigns, here’s the thing if you market a videogame right as and thrown so much God damn money added that everyone knows its name, you can make your money back at the very least.

Scaling back the development size from what was Final Fantasy XIII $70 million, scaling that retarded amount of money back to may be 5 million, and don’t get me wrong that women sacrifice gameplay that would you sacrifice the graphics, the things that really do not matter in a game besides make it look pretty. If they scale back the graphics on the game to the extent that they’re just using sprites they could probably turn a profit even on a failure like Final Fantasy XIII.

No design in the game with Westerners in mind isn’t a bad idea, but that really entails is just not having such obscure cultural references that anyone who doesn’t already know them would never figure them out. Think of it like pop culture references in anime, for the most part Westerners are not understand any pop-culture reference to celebrities in Japan, the kind of think of it like scaling it back so it’s not so much culture shock where you have to read a fucking codex just to figure out what the hell that means. Sure you might not get the rabid fans who want to immerse themselves in complete Japanese culture but you also make yourself more accessible to the mass audiences.

With Square Enix really needs to do is two things.
Number one, just because something is complicated doesn’t mean people can it be interested in it, take Final Fantasy XIII as an example. They explained dick during the actual game, forcing you to read the ship tons of data and trees just to figure out what the hell something meant. And this is nothing you can actually figure out given the context of its use. That was probably the most alienating factor of the game and why I didn’t make it past seven hours.
Number two, they need to figure out how to make games and other genres, take a look at an action game from America and an action game from Japan. More often than not the controls in the Japanese game are very poor while the controls in the American game are fairly generic. I’m not talking about rare exceptions like bayonetta and Devil May cry. A lot of the times any time there is any form of action game it feels clunky they need to fix that.

How going back to basics for them would be the plot of Final Fantasy I. Take that plot and make the game around it. Make the game more about the journeys in the destination, given the game side quests give towns feeling, make it feel like these books people are alive and not just there to see one or two lines of dialogue and that’s it.

Square really need to cut its losses with what it did was 13, and more than that they need to fucking stopper with the social games that fail all they do is besmirch their name whenever that’s left of it anyway.

And Nippon Ichi is a well known Fortune 500 company of course. Or was it the other thing, a company barely anyone outside of some small niche (and a positively tiny one outside of Japan) has heard of.

What works for one company won’t work for another, and certainly a big company like SE can’t take the tactics of a dinky thing like NIS as a way to turn itself around. The same applies to just going “back to roots”–those games we loved so much were made 10-15 years ago, the market has changed significantly since then and games that have tried to imitate that formula have been selling less and less because there’s less demand.

I think what SE needs to do is focus more on making a few quality, big games with some more original IPs, and for real consoles rather than portables or mobile. Rather than try to recapture past magic, they need to adapt to today’s market, because it is leaving behind those too caught in the past.

I don’t see how the franchise’s been “westernize”. DMC sure. Resident Evil, yeah. But FF does not look like any Western RPG I’ve ever played. Just because their games are about endless corridors, doesn’t mean they are being westernize, it just means their shit.

From now on ALL JRPGs that dare feature any of the follwing shan’t be developed/played:
1. Anything that features people wearing ANYTHING but Yukata and Kimonos shan’t be used. Al other clothing styles are WESTERN so they are forbidden.
2. Absolutely NO Weaponry, Items, Armor, Stories or references to stories or History, etc. thar are WESTERN in origin or derived from.
3. Absolutely, positively No usage of WESTERN words of ANY KIND IN ANY WAY, spoken, written, or printed. If it can’t be said in Japanese then it shan’t be included.
4. NO ONLINE PLAY. The technologies for that were created by filthy WESTERNERS so you WILL NOT USE IT.

Should have I added “” to my comment? It appears not to have been clear enough to some.

It was meant to showcase just how hollow, baseless and useless the “westernizing” comment was, since RPGs are a western born idea that dates back to 1780.

What is really needed is not fancy graphics nor a complex battle engine… But a good story to identify yourself with so you enjoy partaking in it development, linear or not.

Examples?
Chrono Trigger. Basic menu-driven battle engine. Nice (for its time) graphics and basic visual effects. But packing a whole lotta story, multiple paths and party configurations, a “secret” character, killer (still) music and a cast anyone can relate to.
Chrono cross tried too hard to envelop those ideas into 3D and fell short even though it had many times more characters and endings.

Final fantasy 7. Had comedy, tragedy (Aerith… Sniff) a basic fighting system but a complex magic/materia system, etc.

If Square/Enix wants our attention back, then lets ask them to re-do Chrono Trigger from the ground up and give it Darksiders’ or Tales of Symphony’s combat system just to keep with current trends (while making your buddies control Robo, Marle, etc over the net). THAT would sell like crazy.

Why is there always someone who takes things to the extreme and dismiss all criticism like you do? I bet there is someone like that at Squeenix too. And all the other Yes Man there just nod and do their usual routine of giving us more shitty games. This lack of common sense will be their downfall.

If there is “ever” a remake, it will probably end up like FFXIII. A three part series because FFVII was quite long game. They will try to milk it as much as possible and probabaly kill the “Cash Cow” off. lol

Fans are dying for it? Speak for yourself. Even if they did a semi decent job on it (which they won’t) it’s still not gonna bring back the old days, like people seem to want to happen. It’s not gonna be better. The only thing a makeover will do to the game is remove all nostalgia, and simply show a regular game underneath, viewed through harsh reality-vision.

They need to make new games that capture what was once great about FF, and not try to make some kind of polished-up FF7 zombie.

The harsh truth to the game industry is that it’s not worth the money and time to make a single remake (FF7).

Game companies generally lose money on their first release. But make it up on later releases reusing the same content (graphics, AI, algorithms). For example GTA is the same release with slightly better graphics, story, etc. But still running on the same engine. So there’s less development cost.

Social games and mobile games require less time and money to make and therefore less risk. Square enix is simply following the rule of all game developers in the past. One that has proven (more or less) successful over time.

It’s worth remaking a game when the hardware profile has changed since it was originally released.

Like Fans would much rather see a remake of FF6 or FF7 before more sequels to the Final Fantasy Franchise. FF6 because it has a great storyline and did everything right. FF7 because it was first-generation console 3D and was visually terrible (hence the demand for a remake.)

Remaking either game will ensure everyone who bought it the first time, buys it a second (or even a third time.) But you can only remake a game once.

I recall a rumor from about a decade back stating that Square was planning to stop the series at Final Fantasy 15… looking at the current state of affairs, this might actually be true. Well, half-true: they aren’t even getting around to 15. Maybe they’re overly hesitant because they know it’s gonna be their last one.

Don’t worry, if/when they eventually remake it, they’ll remove all but 2 or 3 of them, and tell us it’s better because of “streamlining” and “cutting the fat”. They’ll call their FF7-parody-minigame-with-cutscenes a “re-imagining”, and tell us it couldn’t be like the old FF7 because games have to “evolve”.

I’m not sure how they sold, but I have heard pretty good things about their (non-mobile) spin-off titles, like Theatrythm, Dissidia, and the Crystal Chronicles games. There’s also Bravely Default (not a Final Fantasy game, but very similar nonetheless). I’d say the main numbered series is pretty much done for, though.

FFXIV v2 is killing them to start over, they still don’t have the first round of beta out. If they keep it up though I think 14 will be a success. Depends on if they skimp at the end to push it out before it is ready.

If they catered to the Japanese market, all they would have made is low budget PSP games, and social games lulz! The Japanese home console market is dead as fuck. Adults don’t play games in Japan unless they’re NEETs. That’s the simple truth of it.

Tell you what, make the game an interactive virtual world like SAO and I’ll buy it. It’s the only way I’ll ever get bought into the whole social gaming scene. (JK, but just imagine how truly awesome it would be, walking around inside the world of FF 8 or 10. Even the less attractive games would be amazing) actually, Sony has recently made a venture into the 3D virtual reality helmet, so its not entirely an impossibility. Lol, even though I don’t belive it would ever be done for so many reasons, I still have a hope in the back of my mind that they will.

There’s still games like the old FF’s being made, they’re just not being made by SE. Other developers have made their games spiritual successors to FF, and have more freedom to try new things. I can’t believe the users suggesting SE go back to it’s roots: the whole thing that made Japanese devs so dominant during the golden age of videogames wasn’t following a traditional formula. It was experimenting and coming up with crazy, oddball ideas for games.

Only, they didn’t call their new ideas “[established brand] XVII”. Mega Man is a good example, there’s MegaMan I to IX (or X?) and they are all basically the same stuff. Good stuff. But then there’s more MegaMan (or if you prefer, Rock Man) games out there. They are called something else. Like Mega Man X or Mega Man Battle Network.

So quit making games starring Lady Cloud and remake the game that had Cloud originally?

Also on an unrelated note, how can they remake FFVII with the way they’ve changed Cloud’s character over the years? Since they made him whiny, brooding and emo in all post-FFVII material, remaking he game with the same dialogue and events would almost make his original portrayal “out-of-character.”

What are you talking about? That dude that Tanaka who just got done fucking up FFXIV was a Veteran producer of classic FF nes/ snes FF games. Kawazu, producer of FFXII, another old school developer that worked on early SNES, and fucked that shit up too. It was a lot of the old school staff that fucked the company up.

Make a Final Fantasy 10.0 x2 of the 1st story not the 2nd game that was 10×2 with the all new method of play but the 1st one with Yuna and Tidus. Make it for the PC as well we dont got hands to operate those tiny controllers and more and make god dam sure she has some see through clothes at times along with the rest of the girls.

+1
Their entertainment mediums for the last several years have been pandering to otaku who only want moe, miku, boobs and “idols.” It’s no wonder that they can’t seem to develop anything new.

Which… why do they “idolize” them? When you idolize someone, you strive to embody some aspect of who or what that person is. Do all these sad males work to be slender little bitches who agree to not have sex just to get paid?